Eighth GOP member of Congress announces support for marriage equality

U.S. Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.), a Tampa Bay-area Republican, said Monday he supported last week’s ruling by a Monroe County, Fla., judge who said Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage is discriminatory and violates gay people’s right to equal treatment under the law.

“As a matter of my Christian faith, I believe in traditional marriage,” Jolly said in a statement. “But as a matter of Constitutional principle I believe in a form of limited government that protects personal liberty. To me, that means that the sanctity of one’s marriage should be defined by their faith and by their church, not by their state.”

Jolly becomes the eighth current Republican member of the U.S.Congress to come out in support of same-sex marriage.